Introduction

Curriculum: Dr. John Tanaka, MD
Published: 2021-03-31 by Charlie Samra
Introduction

I am Dr. John Tanaka. I am very happy to meet you.  Well, I've been asked to share some of my cases with you to help you pick up some new English words and phrases.  I hope my stories meet your expectations.

Ok, a little about me. I am a yonsei, a fourth generation Japanese American. My great grandparents were issei. They moved to the United States from Japan in 1925.  They settled in California, and had four children.  One of those children, named Asako, married into another nisei family in California, the Tanaka family.  To make a long story short, two generations later I was born to Howard and Haruko Tanaka.

I am the oldest son.  I have a sister named Alison, who lives in Denver, and a brother named Bill that lives in San Diego. 

I went to medical school at Stanford University in California.  Then, I went for my residency at St. Mary's Hospital, one of the Mayo Clinic hospitals in Rochester, Minnesota.

What about my personal life, you ask?  Well, I am married, and have two kids - two girls.  My wife's name is Debbie, and my kids' names are Alison and Audrey.

What is my medical speciality?  Well, let me say that I am a general practitioner.  I decided while I was in medical school that I would be a GP, rather than become a specialist.  I thought at the time that my work would be more interesting with a lot of variation.  I still do.

So, my birthday was last week.  I just turned 40.  Only 40 more years of work to go to pay off my student loans.  Only kidding!  

Ok, about my practice.   My office is in San Francisco.  I work at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Office Building on Geary Blvd, which is not very far from Japan Town.  We live in the Outer Richmond neighborhood of San Francisco, which is due west from my office on Geary.  

Why did I become a doctor?  Well, that is an interesting story.  I grew up in a typical American household where we watched a lot of television.  I really liked to watch one show in particular.  Doogie Howser M.D. was about a child prodigy that graduated from medical school at age 14.  In the show he begins his residency at a hospital in Los Angeles.  I was roughly the same age as this teenage doctor, and was very impressed with the show.  I was particularly enamored with how the young doctor handled cases where he helped other teenagers.  It was something that I could see myself doing. 

So I began to think of becoming a doctor myself.  My parents encouraged me, but I had to buckle down to prepare myself for college and medical school.  I wanted to get involved right away, so I volunteered at a local hospital every summer while I was in high school.  I had the appropriate level of zeal for pursuing this dream, but it is a long road to becoming a doctor.  Would I be able to stick it out?  Well, though it wasn't a cakewalk, I got through medical school and finally realized my dream.

Please note that Dr. Tanaka is a fictional character, and all of his case stories are fictional too.  Any resemblance between Dr. Tanaka and his cases and real doctors and their cases is purely coincidental.



Vocabulary
Flash Card Drill

residency     研修(けんしゅう)期間(きかん)
  • I heard that Dr. Park did his residency at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.  
practice     業務(ぎょうむ)
  • My doctor has his practice in the Mori Building in downtown Tokyo.  
specialist     専門医(せんもんい)
  • I went to a specialist for my urinary problems. I am still waiting for my test results.  
general practitioner     一般(いっぱん)開業医(かいぎょうい)
  • Dr. Smith is a general practitioner that is part of a group practice in Highland Medical Center.  
buckle down     全力(ぜんりょく)(かたむ)ける
  • You better buckle down and study if you really want to go to college.  
zeal     熱意(ねつい)
  • His zeal for this project is so obvious. Perhaps he cares too much.  
child prodigy     神童(しんどう)
  • He was recognized as a child prodigy by his piano teacher at 5 years old.  
stick it out     (ねば)()
  • Despite the difficult, painful journey he was able to stick it out until the end.  
enamored     ()せられた
  • He was enamored with idea of becoming the first Asian astronaut to go to the moon.  
cakewalk     簡単(かんたん)達成(たっせい)
  • The final history exam was a cakewalk. I had the highest score in the class.  

Quizzes